Comments on: Google Latitude – Where Is The Technology Leading Us? http://www.digitpedia.com/google-latitude-technology-leading-us/3031/ Digitpedia.com - New Gadgets & Cool Technology Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:12:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=754 By: dave http://www.digitpedia.com/google-latitude-technology-leading-us/3031/comment-page-1/#comment-2509 dave Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:47:11 +0000 http://www.digitpedia.com/?p=3031#comment-2509 @chris - The white dome is not just for tracking - it is a two-way satellite link, and some are integrated into the vehicle's computers. They perform much the same function as OnStar, except the drivers can communicate with their own dispatchers, and the dispatchers can (in some cases) switch off the ignition or retard the throttle in case the truck is hijacked. As for the "spoofing" google "GpsDiffuser" for windows machines, and/or "GpsGate" for PocketPCs. Simple replay (make a program think that the replay is an actual GPS device) is fairly trivial - probably take less than 20 lines of shell-script/python/perl... But, if one can grep lat/lon data from a track in Google Maps (for instance) it wouldn't be too difficult to create a fake NMEA (GPS raw data) track and send it to the serial port where Google Maps (the Latitude updater) is listening. Incidentally, Google Maps reminded me today that it was planning on updating my position on Latitude, and asked me if I wanted to allow it or deny it. @chris – The white dome is not just for tracking – it is a two-way satellite link, and some are integrated into the vehicle’s computers. They perform much the same function as OnStar, except the drivers can communicate with their own dispatchers, and the dispatchers can (in some cases) switch off the ignition or retard the throttle in case the truck is hijacked.

As for the “spoofing” google “GpsDiffuser” for windows machines, and/or “GpsGate” for PocketPCs. Simple replay (make a program think that the replay is an actual GPS device) is fairly trivial – probably take less than 20 lines of shell-script/python/perl… But, if one can grep lat/lon data from a track in Google Maps (for instance) it wouldn’t be too difficult to create a fake NMEA (GPS raw data) track and send it to the serial port where Google Maps (the Latitude updater) is listening.

Incidentally, Google Maps reminded me today that it was planning on updating my position on Latitude, and asked me if I wanted to allow it or deny it.

]]> By: Chris (Admin) http://www.digitpedia.com/google-latitude-technology-leading-us/3031/comment-page-1/#comment-2504 Chris (Admin) Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:43:51 +0000 http://www.digitpedia.com/?p=3031#comment-2504 @dave thats a good point about GPS spoofing, I never thought of that. And I didn't realise the white dome on top of vans was for tracking. Nice points. @dave thats a good point about GPS spoofing, I never thought of that. And I didn’t realise the white dome on top of vans was for tracking. Nice points.

]]> By: dave http://www.digitpedia.com/google-latitude-technology-leading-us/3031/comment-page-1/#comment-2502 dave Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:11:34 +0000 http://www.digitpedia.com/?p=3031#comment-2502 There are privacy concerns, of course - as long as people are not compelled to use it on their own equipment, and the user can control it from wherever he is, I don't see the problem. Many commercial vehicles are already tracked - the white dome you see on the top if semi-tractors, delivery vans, and the like is used for this purpose, as well as 2-way communication via satellite across the nation. I would actually prefer it if my employer could cheaply track my movements - I cover a 7-county area, and it would be helpful if my employer knew exactly where I was - he could send me time-sensitive assignments without having to confirm that I would be in a position to complete them. I foresee GPS spoofing... Already, there are programs that can read-back a previous GPS track to other GPS-capable programs, making it possible to have Latitude updated with false information. It wouldn't be too difficult to create a program where you enter a sequence of addresses, it builds a plausible route and a spoofed GPS track for that route, and then feeds it to Latitude. There are countless benefits to real-time tracking. As long as the user is fully aware of and fully in control of how that tracking is done, there are no reasonable privacy concerns about this technology. It's a clear win, only possible with a company like Google behind it - M$ couldn't pull this one off. There are privacy concerns, of course – as long as people are not compelled to use it on their own equipment, and the user can control it from wherever he is, I don’t see the problem. Many commercial vehicles are already tracked – the white dome you see on the top if semi-tractors, delivery vans, and the like is used for this purpose, as well as 2-way communication via satellite across the nation.

I would actually prefer it if my employer could cheaply track my movements – I cover a 7-county area, and it would be helpful if my employer knew exactly where I was – he could send me time-sensitive assignments without having to confirm that I would be in a position to complete them.

I foresee GPS spoofing… Already, there are programs that can read-back a previous GPS track to other GPS-capable programs, making it possible to have Latitude updated with false information. It wouldn’t be too difficult to create a program where you enter a sequence of addresses, it builds a plausible route and a spoofed GPS track for that route, and then feeds it to Latitude.

There are countless benefits to real-time tracking. As long as the user is fully aware of and fully in control of how that tracking is done, there are no reasonable privacy concerns about this technology. It’s a clear win, only possible with a company like Google behind it – M$ couldn’t pull this one off.

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